Explain why the 1997 general election is a good example of a dealignment election. Usually throughout British political elections there has been a clear alignment between social groups

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Explain why the 1997 general election is a good example of a dealignment election.

Usually throughout British political elections there has been a clear alignment between social groups, this alignment however has been somewhat blurred since the 1997 general election. Before the 1997 election most people voted for whomever their families voted for or whichever political party represented their social class the best. The two main parties throughout British politics have been Labour and Conservative, Labour had always represented the working class and the Conservatives had always represented the middle and upper classes. From 1979 when the conservatives won the election with Margaret Thatcher as their leader they were able to hold three successive victories over their opposition, in 1990 John Major took over leadership of the conservative party and won another election in 1992.

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On the 15th of September 1992 all of the trust that the public had in the Conservative party practically disappeared over night. Black Wednesday happened, and the public no longer looked at the Conservatives as the government who could be trusted to manage the economy. Governments that devalue the pound never win elections and this is very true in the case of 1997. Many have said that the Conservatives lost the election on the 15th of September 1992, five years before the Conservatives would lose the election in 1997. With the crash of the pound in 1992 the electorate was starting to ...

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